Two local men died on active service on 13th May 1917. Private Albert Charles Adkins, 1st Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, died in Germany whilst a Prisoner of War. Private James Edward Lees, 10th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment died in hospital in Liverpool, aged 19, and is buried in Shirley.
25th April 1917
Two local men died on active service on 25th April 1917. 21-year-old Private Douglas Walker Clarke, 12th Battalion, Hampshire Regiment was killed in action in Salonika, and Private Frederick Perks, 15th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment was killed in France.
11th April 1917
Four local men lost their lives on 11th April 1917 whilst serving in France: Lance Corporal William Henry Austin, 1st Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment; Private Colin Clews, 1st Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment; Private Albert Perks, 1st Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment; Private Arthur Henry Pool, 16th Battalion, Canadian Infantry (Manitoba Regt).
14th March 1917
Sergeant James Henry Carter, 31st Battalion Australian Infantry, died in France on 14th March 1917. He was born in Yardley in 1895, and was the eldest of the six children (four sons, two daughters) of parents James (a gardener) and Mary Elizabeth (née Moore) who had married in Aston in 1894.
6th March 1917
19-year-old Private Sydney Clifford Lamplugh was killed on 6th March 1917 whilst serving as an Air Mechanic 1st Class with the Royal Flying Corps. Born in 1898, he was the second of the three children of old Silhillian Sydney Augustus Lamplugh (1870-1955) and his wife Ellen Cecile (née Gilmer) who had married in 1895. Their eldest son, Alfred Gilmer Lamplugh CBE (1895-1960) also served as a Lieutenant and Captain with the Royal Flying Corps, having learned to fly in 1913.
11th February 1917
Two men with a local connection died on 11th February 1917. Temporary sub-Lieutenant Walter Holden Legge, Royal Naval Division, attached to Royal Flying Corps, died in Solihull Hospital, whilst Lance Corporal Hubert Woodfield MM, 7th Battalion Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry died in France.
25th January 1917
41-year-old Private John Jones from Shirley was killed in action on 25th January 1917, serving with the 9th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment. Also killed on the same day was Private John Henry Watkins, an Old Silhillian, who was serving with the 9th Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment. Both men are buried in Amara War Cemetery, situated in modern-day Iraq.
8th October 1916
35-year-old Private Harry Edgington died in France on 8th October 1916 serving with the 13th Battalion Canadian Infantry.
He was born in Earlswood and, although his date of birth is given in Army attestation papers as 23rd December 1882, it seems he was three months old at the time of the 1881 census, so it’s likely that his birth was actually on 23rd December 1880.
5th October 1916
Private Edgar Charles Frost, aged 21, of the 23rd Battalion Middlesex Regiment, and Private Frederick Edgar Grimes, aged 29, of the 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards, both died of wounds in France on 5th October 1916.
21st September 1916
Private Tom Cubberley MM died on 21st September 1916 serving with the 2nd Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment. He was born in Lapworth in 1887 and grew up in the Shirley/Monkspath area.
Solihull Life 